Inside the Bar: A Calm Hand

A Calming Hand

Convention and special events guru and former Administration
Director Pat Kelley retires in December to warmer climes, leaving
friends and colleagues in the
capable hands of his long-time meeting planning assistant.

by
George C. Brown
,
State Bar executive director

A past president of the State Bar said it best when he described his
experience as a master of ceremonies
during his term as State Bar president. There were several hundred
lawyers in the audience, members of the Wisconsin Supreme
Court, appellate and circuit court judges, and assorted guests. He had
been rather nervous, unusual for him as an experienced trial
lawyer, worrying whether everything would go as planned, hoping all
the speakers would say the right thing in the right way. Then, as
he stood on the podium surveying the audience, he saw Pat Kelley
standing calmly in the back of the huge hall, his hands clasped on
his black notebook, smiling and nodding in his direction. He knew
instantly that everything would be all right.

Pat Kelley has been at the helm
of every State Bar convention for the last 22 years. His meticulous
attention to detail,
his constant communication with the hundreds of volunteers and staff
needed to create a convention, and his steady calm even
when clouds of disaster have appeared on the horizon, all have worked
together to create successful educational programs and
special events for the tens of thousands of lawyers who have attended
State Bar conventions since 1984.

Pat retires on Dec. 19 and will turn the convention reins over to
his able assistant for these last 16 years, Donna Kinney. We
will miss Pat not only for his work on conventions but also because he
did so much more during his years at the State Bar. For about
15 years, until he requested to work part-time about two years ago,
Pat also served as Director of Administration, overseeing
the maintenance and operations of the State Bar building, including
much of the work that went into creating the current State
Bar Center, as well as the customer service operations and personnel
matters. He also managed numerous special events,
including Board of Governors meetings, and served as staff liaison to
the Young Lawyers Division and to the recently created Senior
Lawyers Division.

Outside the State Bar, Pat put his special talent for planning to
work for the National Association of Bar Executives as
a member of the Program Committee and served as president of the
Wisconsin Chapter of Meeting Planners International,
from whom he received the Planner of the Year Award and, most
recently, the Hall of Fame Award. For the past 10 years, he has
been an active contributor to the Greater Madison Convention and
Visitor Bureau (GMCVB), working in a variety of capacities,
including negotiating the contract that brought the national Ironman
contest to Madison, and ultimately serving as GMCVB president
from 2000 to 2002. Currently, he is a Trustee of Spirit of Greater
Madison, which provides funding support to the GMCVB's
economic development and educational initiatives.

When Pat retires this month, State Bar staff and so many lawyers who
have worked with Pat on the Convention
Committee, the Board of Governors, and the Young Lawyers and Senior
Lawyers divisions will be losing both a work colleague and a friend.
I will be losing a friend with whom I have worked shoulder to shoulder
and have agreed and disagreed (but who has never
been disagreeable), and with whom I have hunted and golfed (although
now that he is retired I lose all hope of ever beating him at
the latter). I know I will see him again, whenever he is in Wisconsin,
but I will miss him just the same. And so will many
lawyers throughout Wisconsin.